Anchorage

Mouillage de Tarente

4.5FranceVar

Shelter: NE, E, SE, S
Seabed: sand, algae
Anchoring: Allowed

Anchorage in the baie des Lecques on the Provençal coast, between La Madrague and Saint-Cyr-sur-Mer.

Pontoon
Beach
Seagrass

Guide

Approach and anchoring

Approach from the south across the baie des Lecques. Sand and algae bottom, holding is fair on the sand patches, which are getting harder to find as the posidonia spreads, so read the bottom and drop clear of the weed. Shelter runs from NE through E to S, but it rolls in a westerly swell and from passing motorboats, and anchoring is not possible in a north-easterly mistral. Anchor farther east for an easy dinghy run into Port de la Madrague. Landing on the beach is awkward in wind because of rocks.

Practical

Forain anchorage with no facilities. Port de la Madrague 0.2 NM E has restaurants and showers at the harbour office, and dinghies land easily there, but its small Utile shop is dear and thinly stocked, so provision at the Nouveau port des Lecques 0.9 NM NW, which has full services and shops.

Ashore

Sentier du littoral runs round the headland between La Madrague and Les Lecques, 3 km one way, passing the underwater archaeological site of Tauroentum. Musée de Tauroentum with Gallo-Roman mosaics 400 m inland from La Madrague.

History

The Roman town of Tauroentum stood on this shore in the 1st century BC and was the site of a naval engagement between Caesar's fleet and the Massaliotes in 49 BC.